


To Fix Time

by madid



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Drug Addiction, Dysfunctional Family, Family Feels, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-11-19 11:56:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 16,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18135449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madid/pseuds/madid
Summary: It hadn’t been until he had seen Vanya locked in that vault that Klaus had realized how much he and his sister had in common. Now that they’ve gone back in time, Klaus wonders if maybe this is his chance to really get to know Vanya.





	1. Arrival

The first thing Klaus thought of when he woke up was how much he hated time travelling. The headache, the itchiness, the nausea, everything about it was shitty. He had sworn on never doing it again after coming back from Vietnam, and yet here he was.

_“Wait where is ‘here’?”_ Klaus thought to himself before his eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright. 

Thankfully his environment was familiar, but in an old memory sort of way. His bedroom at the Academy looked totally different from the last time he’d been in it, you know before the whole building had crumbled to the ground. The walls were blank, completely free of any writing or posters. The furniture was all standard boring stuff his dad had picked out rather than stuff more fitting to Klaus’ taste.  
It was then that Klaus remembered what had happened just before he and his siblings had blinked out of existence. He recalled looking around the circle and seeing his once grown adult siblings, looking just as they had when they were thirteen years old. 

An intense feeling of dread came over Klaus as he stumbled out of bed and to the small mirror hanging on the wall. The reflection wearing Klaus’ shocked facial expression was that of a thin thirteen year old boy dressed in an Academy uniform. “Shiiiiit.” Klaus groaned, staring at the weird miniature version of himself in the mirror. He was starting to understand how Five had been feeling. 

It was just then that the bedroom door was suddenly flung open. Klaus let out a startled shriek as he whipped around to see a little thirteen year old Diego standing in the doorway. 

Klaus couldn’t help the grin that tugged at the corners of his lips. Diego looked absolutely adorable with his neat hair and schoolboy shorts. The scars he’d had on his face during adulthood were missing, and of course that sexy stubble was gone too. 

Diego stared back at Klaus in shock, only breaking out of it when Klaus began to giggle. “This isn’t funny, Klaus.” He grumbled, which only served to make Klaus laugh even harder. 

“I’m sorry but seeing you again in that outfit is just--”

“You’re wearing the same thing, idiot.” Diego shot back, arms crossing over his chest grumpily.

Klaus beamed. “Well yeah but I pull it off.” 

The sound of two sets of pounding footsteps approached, Diego turned around with his fists up looking ready to attack whoever it was. “Relax, it’s us.” Came the prepubescent voice of Luther as he and Allison stepped into the room, looking equally as precious in their thirteen year old bodies. 

“I cannot believe this is happening right now.” Allison breathed as she took in the sight of Diego and Klaus.

“Where’s Five and Vanya?” Diego questioned, a note of nervousness in his voice.

“They must still be in their rooms, right?” Allison suggested.

Everyone seemed to agree with that notion as they all took off down the hall to Vanya’s bedroom, Klaus hurrying after them. As soon as Klaus caught up with his siblings he saw that Vanya’s door was already open. He peered past Diego’s shoulder to see a young Vanya lying motionless on her bed, Five kneeling beside her.

“Is she okay?” Allison demanded, pushing past Luther to get into the narrow room. 

Fived nodded. “Yeah, she’s just still knocked out.” He assured Allison, removing his finger from Vanya’s pulse.

The five of them stood in silence for a moment, just staring at Vanya. She looked completely harmless and innocent, nothing like how she had been before they’d traveled back.  
Klaus could never have imagined he would feel actual fear when looking at Vanya. Growing up she had always been the most unassuming of the family. She’d been quiet and gentle, always wanting to fit in but never being allowed to. It had taken seeing Vanya locked up in that vault for Klaus to realize how much of his own traumas he saw in her.

They were all broken out of their deep thinking by the piping up of a quiet voice behind them. “Uh--guys?” Everyone turned around at once to see little Ben standing there, looking very much alive.


	2. Reunion

Klaus’ first thought was that we was just seeing a de-aged version of Ben’s ghost. It was strange to think that whatever time travel nonsense had caused them all to turn back into children had affected Ben too, but he supposed it made as much sense as anything that had happened to them in the past week. 

After a moment of thinking however, Klaus began to realize that all of his siblings had reacted to Ben’s voice, and all of them were currently staring at him with their eyes popping out of their heads. 

“Hold on, is everyone else seeing Ben right now?” Klaus asked with uncertainty.   
Klaus glanced at his siblings to see several of them giving dazed nods. Five, while clearly having a reaction to seeing Ben again, looked the least surprised of all of them. “We went back to a time before Ben died.” He explained simply. 

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Klaus stated, unwilling to believe that his dead brother really had been brought back to life so easily. “One of you go touch him.” He said, prodding Diego with his finger. 

“Why don’t you do it?” Luther asked, his gaze not moving from Ben. 

Klaus rolled his eyes. “Because Ben’s punched me before when he was a ghost, me touching him doesn’t prove anything.” 

“Well how exactly does your power work?” Allison asked.

Klaus shrugged. “You think I know? I didn’t even--” The rest of Klaus’ sentence was interrupted when Ben suddenly lunged towards the group huddled in the doorway of Vanya’s room. His eyes widened when Ben’s hand connected with his side as he pulled his siblings into a big messy group hug. Klaus glanced to his right to see Ben’s other arm successfully not going through Diego’s abdomen. 

“Trust me, I’m alive.” Ben assured them, the warmth coming off of the short boy proving it for Klaus. 

The six of them stood there for an unknown amount of time, just silently celebrating the return of their once dead brother. Klaus smirked at the fact that the grumpy Five and Diego were being forced to participate in a family hug. There was no way either of them could pull away when it had been Ben who initiated it, no matter how much it ruined the tough image they were always trying to promote. 

They all only pulled away once Ben took a step back, a bright smile on his youthful face. “So what now?” He asked cheerfully, clearly too happy to be alive again to care about the unfortunate circumstances they had gotten themselves into. 

“What time did you take us to?” Luther asked Five, perhaps a little more harshly than he had intended.

“It’s the day before I originally disappeared.” Five explained. “8 o'clock at night to be exact.”   
“Reflection time.” Allison breathed. “That’s why the house is so quiet.” Ah yes, the good old days when they had a 9 pm bedtime and the hour beforehand was supposed to be spent “reflecting on the day’s training”. Klaus could remember using that time specifically for getting high just to spite dad. 

“Is Vanya okay?” Ben asked, unable to see over his taller siblings blocking the doorway.

Five nodded. “She should be waking up any minute now, which is why we need to all get in here and figure out what we’re going to tell her when she wakes up.” He hissed. 

Klaus only realized how tight Vanya’s room was when he and his six siblings all tried to crowd into it. “Thank god Luther’s not a chunky monkey man anymore, we’d never be able to fit in here.” Klaus chuckled, earning him a scowl from Luther, a disapproving look from Allison, and a smirk from Five, Ben, and Diego. 

“Alright so what happens if Vanya wakes up and she’s still trying to cause the apocalypse?” Luther questioned. 

Allison smacked him in the arm. “She only did that because she felt betrayed by us.” She insisted, seeming pleased to be able to use her voice again. “We just have to talk to her, explain what happened and help her work through it.” 

The memory of the desperation on Vanya’s face as she banged on the glass of that vault door haunted Klaus’ mind. Memories of time spent in his own prison as a child came rushing back to him. He could feel the horrible images threatening to push him over the edge again. Great, just what he needed, a mental breakdown in front of his siblings. 

However Klaus was pulled out by the sensation of a reassuring hand resting on his shoulder. Klaus glanced back to see Ben there, a calm but determined look on his face. He must have noticed the signs of one of Klaus’ panic attacks coming on, and unlike all those times as a ghost, Ben could actually physically comfort him this time. 

Ben gave Klaus an encouraging nod and Klaus nodded back, taking in slow quiet breaths while the rest of his siblings bickered in the background. After a few moments Klaus had calmed himself down enough to tune back into the conversation going on around him. 

“She can’t take those pills, suppressing her powers is what got us in this mess in the first place.” Five said, arms crossed stubbornly over his chest.

“If she just stays on them--” Luther began to argue but was stopped by a flick in the side of the head from Allison. 

“She already knows about her powers, she’ll never go back to taking the pills.” Allison insisted.

Klaus sighed. “Let’s just see what she has to say first.” He finally put in, meeting everyone’s gazes unyieldingly. 

As if right on time a small groan came from Vanya’s bed. Everyone turned to see her eyes slowly flickering open.


	3. Recollection

Klaus was happy to see that Vanya’s eyes were no longer white and had returned to their usual brown color. In fact there seemed to be no sign the whole event had even happened at all. 

Under normal circumstances Klaus would have made some sort of quip along the lines of “rise and shine sleeping beauty”, but believe it or not he did have some semblance of a filter and so wisely decided to just keep his mouth shut as Vanya slowly sat up in bed.

Allison was quick to rush to Vanya’s side, gently helping her into a comfortable sitting position. “What...what’s going on?” Vanya asked groggily, her eyes blinking rapidly as though she was try to focus her vision. 

“It’s...well it’s kind of complicated.” Allison admitted. “What do you remember?”

Vanya shook her head, running a hand slowly down her face. “I remember coming to the Academy.” She started, confusion evident in her voice. “There was this room…” She trailed off. Her hand dropped from her face and her head shot up, finally fully taking in the scene around her. 

“What the hell?!” Vanya pulled away from Allison and scrambled backwards on her bed, towards the wall. She stared at her siblings, eyes wide. “Y-you’re all--”

“Thirteen again? Yeah that may be sort of my fault.” Five admitted, to Klaus’ surprise. It wasn’t often Number Five actually admitted fault for anything. 

Vanya shook her head fervently. “The last thing I remember I was in that--that vault.” She stammered. “You all kept me locked in there and I--I just had to get out so I used my powers…” Vanya looked around in bewilderment. “I lost control.” She stated, seeming to finally realize the nature of what had happened to her.

The fear in Vanya’s young eyes broke Klaus’ heart. Even when she’d been upset about being left out of Umbrella Academy stuff, Vanya had never looked this vulnerable. He could scarcely imagine what she was going through now. He’d been disoriented enough waking up in his younger body, and he had least mostly known what was going on. Vanya had no idea.

“Things got...bad, I won’t lie.” Allison said quietly. “Five had to take us back in time to make things right.” She explained. “Unfortunately with this side effect.” Allison gestured at herself . 

“There are some benefits though.” Klaus spoke up, reaching over to grab Ben’s shoulders and pull him in front of himself to show Vanya.

Somehow Vanya’s eyes got even wider as her gaze finally landed on Ben. “Is he--are you--” She started.

“Alive? Yeah, I am.” Ben told her gently. Klaus couldn’t see his face, but he figured Ben was pulling that soft smile he did that had always seemed to melt everyone, except dad of course. 

“I can’t believe it.” Vanya breathed, looking down at her hands. It must have been then that Vanya finally realized that she too had been included in the whole de-aging process, as she suddenly gave a sharp gasp. “I’m stuck in a thirteen year old’s body?” She asked incredulously.

“Sucks doesn’t it.” Five quipped, seeming ever so slightly pleased to not be the only that looked far younger than they actually were. 

Klaus glanced down at his own hands. His palms were missing the HELLO and GOODBYE tattoos he’d become so used to seeing, and he didn’t have to look to know all his other ones were gone too. He felt a pang at the thought that the tattoo reminding him of his time in Vietnam, and more specifically Dave, was gone. Klaus shook his head, as if to rid himself of the thoughts. He couldn’t think about Dave right now. 

“What exactly do we have to do now that we’re here?” Vanya asked, clearly still confused on the details of what was going on. 

Everyone turned to look at Five, who wore a sour expression on his face. “I don’t know why you’re all looking at me, I’m not Number One remember?” He snipped sarcastically.

Luther rolled his eyes. “I’m not the one came up with the brilliant idea of traveling back in time.” 

“If we hadn’t we’d all be dead now, Luther.” Diego growled, stepping in to defend Five for once. 

Klaus looked past Luther and Diego to see Vanya looking alarmed at the “we’d all be dead” comment. She clearly hadn’t grasped the magnitude of what had happened back in that theater yet. 

“Wait--guys what exactly happened?” Vanya demanded, successfully distracting Diego and Luther from the argument they had been about to get into. 

The six of them all shared uncertain looks with each other. How exactly did one explain to their sister that she had literally caused the apocalypse? 

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Allison finally sighed and began recounting the horrible story of how the apocalypse had begun.


	4. Planning

Allison slowly and carefully recounted the story of everything that had happened after Vanya woke up locked in that vault, with the others occasionally adding in details. After it was all said and done, Vanya had quietly asked if she could be alone with Allison for a little while.

Klaus’ brothers seemed eager to escape the uncomfortable situation, and while Klaus definitely felt like some one-on-one time between his two sisters was a good idea, he couldn’t help but feel like he should say something to Vanya.  
He lingered in the doorway for a moment, meeting Vanya’s eyes briefly. She looked so lost. She hadn’t said a word since Allison had begun explaining what had happened. Klaus knew he was no expert on reading people’s reactions, but he could tell Vanya was going through an absolute storm of emotions right now.

“Klaus?” Ben’s voice coaxed from the hallway. 

Klaus gave Vanya one last look that he hoped came off as reassuring before following his brothers out of the room, making sure to close the door behind him. 

“Come on, the others went into Luther’s room.” Ben said, leading the way down the hall to Luther’s bedroom. 

“Close the door.” Luther instructed from where he stood in the corner of the room, arms crossed firmly over his chest. 

Used to Number One’s bossy commands Klaus just rolled his eyes and shut the door with a quiet click. 

Diego was sitting on the floor, leaning against Luther’s bed, a dark expression clouding his face. “As much as I hate to be the one to bring it up, we have to talk about dad.” He stated. 

“What about him?” Ben asked, plopping down onto the floor. 

“We’re going to have to deal with him in the morning, and he doesn’t know we’re not actually thirteen year olds.” Diego explained.

Klaus’ heart sank at the realization that going back in time did in fact mean their father was back to being alive, a most unfortunate side effect in Klaus’ opinion. 

“Hold on a second, I’m still confused about why we woke up in the Academy like this.” Luther interjected. “Shouldn’t there be other versions of us running around?” He asked, his attention turned to Five.

Five was sitting cross-legged on Luther’s bed, bouncing his legs anxiously and looking lost in thought. It was only when everyone else in the room had their eyes on him that Five broke out of whatever daze he had been in. He seemed to take a moment to process Luther’s question before rolling his eyes derisively. “That’s not how time travel works.” He sneered. “The same person can’t exist twice at the same time.” 

Luther glared back at Five. “Well then what happened?” 

Five sighed impatiently. “When we travelled back to a time where our younger selves already existed, our consciousnesses got put into their bodies.” He explained. “The consciousnesses of our thirteen year old selves remain in a kind of hibernation until we leave this time.” 

Klaus honestly tried to understand just what the hell Five was talking about, forcing himself to pay attention despite the confusing nature of what was being said, but thinking too much about it just made his head spin. 

“You know I’m really not a fan of time travel.” Diego mumbled. That was something Klaus had to agree with. 

“Before we traveled you said we have to ‘fix Vanya’.” Luther reminded Five. “What exactly does that mean?” 

Five shook his head. “I don’t know yet.” He said through clenched teeth. “I haven’t had a chance to calculate what changes can be made without totally destroying our timeline.” 

Klaus had never been good at math. He’d struggled with just simple algebra equations growing up, how the hell Five could calculate the probability of any given thing obliterating the future they knew, Klaus had no damn clue. Five had always been the smart one, something he would never let any of his siblings forget. 

“So what do we do in the meantime?” Ben questioned, Five’s expression softening instantly when he spoke. 

“You guys aren’t going to like it.” Five warned, causing Diego to turn around to throw a suspicious look up at him. 

“Now that’s a shocker.” Klaus mused with a smirk to hide the feeling of dread coming over him. 

Luther’s eyes narrowed. “Just spit it out, Five.” 

Five let out a long sigh, seemingly anticipating the storm of anger her was going to receive from his brothers. “To make sure we don’t negatively alter the timeline, we’re going to have to play the role of our thirteen year old selves.” 

Klaus’ heart sank immediately. Living through his shitty childhood once had been bad enough, but having to do it twice? He’d barely made it out alive the first time, and Ben...well Ben hadn’t been so lucky. 

“No way am I acting like a thirteen year old!” Diego exclaimed, apparently forgetting the fact that they were supposed to be being quiet.

“I’m pretty sure I can’t keep my mouth shut around dad anymore.” Ben stated. He had grown a lot since his death strangely enough. Klaus had watched Ben change from being the naive and easily manipulated child he had once been, into someone far more outspoken and confident. And now that he actually had it in him to talk back to dad, Klaus didn’t blame Ben for not being onboard with acting like nothing had changed. 

“That’s a lot to ask, Five.” Luther responded, remaining the calmest among them. Of course Luther wasn’t stressed about having to deal with dad again, he had always been dad’s dutiful little minion. Klaus wondered if maybe Luther was even a little bit happy to be back to the old days, when he had purpose and was actually treated as Number One. Although to be fair, he did seem to be considering the feelings of his other siblings for once. 

Five ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “You think I’m any happier about it than you guys?” He asked rhetorically. “I’d be more than willing to let you all beat him to a pulp if the circumstances weren’t so sensitive.” 

Klaus’ blood ran cold as his mind came to the conclusion he had been trying to avoid. If they had to live like they had when they were kids, that meant Klaus would have to undergo his father’s “extra training sessions” again, the very thing that had haunted Klaus well into adulthood. 

“What about Vanya?” Klaus heard Ben say distantly. “We can’t make her suppress her powers anymore.” 

“We won’t, she’ll just have to hide them from dad, mom, and Pogo.” Five replied firmly. 

“You say that like it’s easy.” Luther grumbled. 

Klaus was really starting to notice the fact that we was still sober, and how much he wished he wasn’t. Klaus had just started smoking weed when he was thirteen. He was beginning to wonder if his younger self might have left a handy supply in his room somewhere…

“Hey, Klaus!” Klaus was jolted to attention by Luther’s whispered shout. “Did you hear anything we just said?” He questioned. 

Klaus gave an exaggerated shrug. “Well that depends.” He replied with a low chuckle. 

“You’re thinking about getting high, aren’t you?” Ben said with his arms folded over his chest. Damn it, Ben knew Klaus too well, and now he could rat him out to all his other siblings. 

Klaus put on a dramatic expression of outrage. “How could you make such an outlandish accusation!” He exclaimed with a hand clutching his chest. 

Ben rolled his eyes. “You never would have been able to summon me like that in back in the theater if you hadn’t been sober.” He reminded Klaus sternly. 

Klaus gave a noncommittal shrug. “Well you’re not dead anymore for me to summon so…” 

“You are not getting high right now, Klaus.” Luther told him in that annoying Number One way. 

Klaus stuck a finger out at Five. “You said we should act like our thirteen year old selves did.” He reminded everyone. “And my thirteen year old self would have gotten high.” He informed them, crossing his arms and glaring back at his brothers stubbornly. 

Five opened his mouth, surely about to argue all the reasons Klaus was stupid and wrong when the sound of footsteps in the hall interrupted him. Everyone froze, listening carefully as the footsteps got closer and closer. 

_“It’s probably just Allison and Vanya.”_ Klaus tried to convince himself. He hated the fact that just the idea of seeing his dad again made him so nervous. 

The five of them stared in silence at the door knob as it slowly turned and the door was pushed open.


	5. Haunting

Klaus watched with bated breath as the door was carefully opened. It was only when he saw the soft yet gently stern face of mom that he let out a low sigh of relief. 

She looked just the same as she ever did, today wearing a pale yellow dress with a gingham pattern. Her golden hair was pulled into a low bun behind her head with her bangs in a perfectly styled curl as usual. 

“Now boys, what on earth are you doing out of your rooms?” She scolded calmly. “It’s 9 o'clock, you should be in your pajamas and in bed by now!”

“M-m-mom.” Klaus heard Diego stammer behind him. He turned to see Diego had gotten to his feet and was staring at mom with wide eyes. Klaus remembered the last time they had seen mom, she had been looking out at them as the building collapsed around her. The memory of Diego desperately trying to claw through the debris to find her was still very fresh. The look in his eyes when Klaus had told him to stop was haunting. 

“There’s no time to dally, you kids need your rest.” Mom told them with a warm smile. 

Mom had never been intimidating or strict to the kids, but she never had to be. Klaus couldn’t remember the last time any of them had ever disobeyed her. She was such a gentle and calming presence, and they all knew anything she told them to do was just her following their father’s orders. To act out against her just felt...wrong. 

The five of them exchanged brief looks, all seeming to come to the same consensus: the rest of this discussion would have to wait till later. “Sorry mother.” Klaus apologized sheepishly before filing out of the room with his brothers close behind. 

“Goodnight, Luther.” Mom called after everyone else had exited the room. 

“Goodnight, mom.” Luther called back awkwardly. Mom smiled softly at him before shutting the door.

“Now, off to bed you four.” Mom said, turning to look at Klaus, Ben, Diego, and Five. “Have a goodnight.” She added sweetly.   
“Goodnight, mom.” The four of them said in unison before heading off to each of their rooms. It was really starting to feel like Klaus was reliving the past now. 

As Klaus got changed into the blue Umbrella Academy pajamas, he tried to listen to see if Allison and Vanya would get caught out of bed as the rest of them had. Seeing as he heard no more voices, he could only assume they hadn’t. Klaus was glad for that, he had a feeling it might be a good idea for Vanya to have someone stay with her overnight.

Now Klaus on the other hand...well he was actually truly alone for the first time in a long time. Even when he’d been passed out by himself in some alleyway, Ben had been there to keep an eye on him. Now that Ben back among the living, Klaus was on his own to face all of the ghosts that were sure to come to him in the night. 

The dead always seemed to make an appearance after dark, whether they just did it for the creepiness effect or what Klaus had no idea. Either way they always came so long as he was sober enough. Screaming his name, pleading for help, and wailing all through the night. There had been so many sleepless nights that Klaus had undergone before the drugs.

“You can do this, you can stay sober.” Klaus mumbled to himself as he climbed under his bedsheets. “Just gotta fall asleep.” He continued. “Can’t see ghosts if you’re not conscious, right?” Although Klaus knew his nightmares were just as bad, if not worse. 

It only took five minutes of laying in the dark silence before he heard it. “Klaaauus.” A woman’s voice moaned. Klaus held his eyes shut, knowing that seeing the person speaking would only make it worse. 

“Help me!” A man screamed, the raw desperation in his voice making the hairs on Klaus’ arms stand on end.

“Please!” Another woman’s voice cried. 

The volume of the voices began to pick up, seemingly growing impatient with Klaus’ lack of response. One of them stopped bothering with coherent words altogether, instead opting for a horrible ear-splitting screech. After a while the other ghosts joined in with the wailing. 

“Stop, stop, stop.” Klaus moaned pressing his hands against his ears in what he knew was a futile attempt at blocking out the voices. 

“He..l...p u....s.” A low voice gurgled, right next to Klaus’ head. 

Klaus threw off his covers and jumped out of bed, ignoring the horrifying figures standing in his room as he ran over to the light switch and flicked the lights back on. 

“Come on, come on.” He growled as he began rummaging through the drawers of his desk. “There has to be some.” Where exactly he had stored his drugs back in the day was a bit fuzzy. At thirteen he hadn’t been nearly as good at hiding shit as he was later on, meaning it should be in a pretty obvious spot. 

The ghosts continued to scream around him, but Klaus ignored it. He lowered himself to the floor to peer under the bed. There was a small box there where he remembered keeping the limited number of personal items dad had let him have. As soon as he saw the plain white envelope inside, Klaus knew he had finally hit the jackpot. He ripped it open to reveal a small clear baggie of pot that looked like it had already been halfway emptied. 

Klaus hurried over to his desk and ripped a chunk of paper out of a notebook. Despite his shaking hands Klaus rolled the joint with all the precision and skill of someone who had been doing so for over fifteen years. After he was finished it took a little digging around in a drawer to find his lighter, but as soon as he had, he popped the joint into his mouth and lit up. 

The fact that his brothers--Ben especially--would be upset at him for not staying sober, was not lost on Klaus. He knew his attempts at hiding it from them would probably fail, and they would read him the riot act as a result. They’d think he was weak, a failure, and an idiot, but that was nothing new. At the end of the day, they weren’t the ones that had to stay up all night listening to ghost screaming in their ears. Besides, weed was hardly even a drug. 

Content with his justification, Klaus made quick work of smoking the rest of the joint. Unfortunately the high from marijuana wouldn’t last him till morning, so Klaus prepared another joint for himself should he wake up in the middle of the night. 

With that, Klaus climbed back into bed, opting to leave the light on this time.


	6. Argument

The next morning, Klaus was woken up by something he hadn’t had the misfortune of hearing since he left the Academy. 

A loud and obnoxious beeping dragged Klaus out of his sleep. He groaned as he glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table that read 8:00 am in big red numbering. Klaus hastily slapped the off button on the device before tugging his covers up over his head. 

Klaus had been half expecting to wake up sprawled out in some shithole to discover that everything that had happened since dad’s funeral had all been a particularly insane string of hallucinations. But judging by the fact that he was being forced awake at 8 am sharp just as he had all throughout his childhood, Klaus had to come to the unfortunate conclusion that it was in fact all real. 

Klaus pulled the bed sheets tighter around himself. He was not a morning person by any means, and after moving out he hadn’t needed to be at all, considering he’d never really been able to hold down any kind of job. A lifestyle of staying up all night and sleeping all day had suited him just fine. 

As much as Klaus wanted to just stay in bed, hidden from the world, he knew doing so would only serve to get him into trouble. Which brought him right back to the shitty reality that was having to deal with dad again. Seeing him when he’d conjured him at that rave had been bad enough, this time he’d be there in the flesh. Not to mention the fact that Klaus wasn’t even allowed to yell obscenities at the man for fear of “altering the timeline”.

“Time travel sucks, time travel sucks.” Klaus mumbled in a sing-song voice as he slowly dragged himself out of bed. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror again, shaking his head at the sight. They couldn’t have traveled back to a time _after_ he’d hit puberty. 

Slowly and tiredly Klaus changed out his pajamas and into the Umbrella Academy uniform he had had to wear all throughout his childhood. Despite what he’d said to Diego last night, Klaus felt totally out of place in the outfit. It was so dull and boring, lacking none of the flare he always tried to incorporate into his wardrobe. The fact that he’d had to wear the same damn outfit every single day growing up was a big factor in why Klaus was always so determined to dress unconventionally. 

Klaus had just pulled his jacket on when he heard movement outside his bedroom door. His eyes shot over to his bedside table where two burnt up joints still sat. Hastily he stumbled over to the table and brushed the evidence into the nearby wastebasket. Just as the door swung open Klaus turned around, attempting to not look guilty as hell. 

“Wow, you’re actually up.” Ben noted as he stepped into the room, already all changed into the Academy uniform. 

Klaus smirked, “Wouldn’t want to miss breakfast with dear ol’ dad, now would I?” 

Ben chuckled as he walked further into the room, hands tucked in the pockets of his jacket. Klaus eyed Ben with a lifted eyebrow, he could tell when there was something his brother wanted to say. 

After a moment Ben gave a dry laugh. “Y’know, after twelve years of being practically joined at the hip with you, you’d think I would be happy to have some alone time.” He noted. Klaus could definitely relate to that, though he was somewhat surprised Ben felt the same way. He’d always felt so bad that of all the siblings for Ben to get stuck with, it had to be him, the family screw up. 

“It just felt...bizarre.” Ben continued with a shrug. “I almost came in here halfway through the night to check on you.” Klaus began to fiddle with the sleeve of his jacket guiltily. 

Ben picked up on Klaus’ sheepish behavior immediately, narrowing his eyes at his brother suspiciously. “Please tell me you didn’t.” He groaned, crossing his arms over his chest. 

There was definitely a part of Klaus that wanted to try to lie to Ben, if not just for the sake of avoiding another one of his disapproving looks. However Klaus knew there was no point in it, Ben knew him too well, he would figure it out one way or another. Klaus sighed and gave a nod of confirmation. 

“Damn it, Klaus.” Ben grumbled, massaging the bridge of his nose. “You were doing so well.” 

Klaus gave a lame shrug in response. “They were loud last night.” He tried to justify. 

Ben shook his head, “You should have come to me, I could have helped.” 

Arms folded to match, Klaus glared stubbornly back at his brother. “You have your own life now, you don’t have to be shackled with _my_ problems anymore.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with having help.” Ben countered, to which Klaus just rolled his eyes. They’d had this same discussion countless times and it always led nowhere.

“Just mind your own business, Ben.” Klaus muttered, an uncharacteristic edge to his voice. 

Ben, being the stubborn bastard that he was, looked more than ready to continue arguing, but he was prevented by the sound of the meal bell being rung from downstairs. Literally saved by the bell. 

“Aw, what a shame we can’t continue this thriiiilling discussion.” Klaus quipped as he brushed past Ben to get out into the hallway. 

“You are such an ass sometimes.” Ben mumbled from behind Klaus, something the latter chose to willfully ignore.


	7. Breakfast

While Klaus had no idea what day of the week it was, he knew it must be a weekday considering they were having breakfast in the dining room. Growing up they had only ever been allowed to have breakfast in the kitchen on the weekends. Dad would eat in his office those mornings, so the kids were all allowed to actually talk during the meal. 

Klaus cursed his shitty luck. If it had been the weekend at least they all could have put off dealing with dad a little while longer. But seeing as that wasn’t the case, Klaus tried to mentally prepare himself for the horrible experience of seeing his demented monster of a father again. 

Klaus stopped in the hallway outside of the dining room. He looked in to see Allison and Vanya already standing behind their seats at the table. Klaus turned to see Ben had stopped behind him, and that Five, Luther, and Diego were all coming down the stairs together. 

“This is insane.” Diego grumbled as he, Five, and Luther stopped beside Klaus and Ben.

“I don’t know if I can look him the eye.” Luther admitted.

Five sighed. “It’s not like we have to say anything, remember?” He pointed out. “Just sit, eat your breakfast, and don’t call any attention to yourselves.”

“Do Allison and Vanya know?” Ben asked.

Luther nodded. “I told them everything earlier, Vanya’s on board.” He assured them. Honestly, Klaus couldn’t say he wouldn’t have been totally fine with Vanya unleashing a little bit of her newly discovered power on the father from hell. Just seeing the bastard get a little taste of his own medicine would do more than any amount of therapy could for Klaus. 

“Come on.” Five muttered impatiently before striding into the dining room with more confidence than Klaus could ever muster. 

Luther, Diego, and Ben all followed Five’s lead in a row. Klaus watched them take their places behind their assigned seats at the table. He drew in one final steadying breath before joining his siblings. 

Klaus stepped up behind the chair in between Ben and Allison. He glanced over at Ben who, despite the argument they’d had earlier, offered Klaus a reassuring nod. Looking around at all of his other siblings, he could tell he was far from being alone in his anxiousness over the situation. 

Vanya wore a somber expression on her face, looking down at her hands where they were gripping the top of her chair. She had to be taking this whole reliving their childhood thing worse than anyone, didn’t she? Klaus could guess how painful it would be to go back to a time where you were always treated like the outcast. It wasn’t actually something Klaus was incapable of relating to. 

Before Klaus could dwell on that thought too much, the devil himself entered the room, looking just as stony and unapproachable as ever.

Dad took his place at the head of the table across from Vanya. Mom stood behind him, her usual gentle smile in place. There was a painful few moments where dad just cast his unrelenting gaze over the table, taking a second to stare at each of his seven adopted children individually before moving on to the next. 

When his eyes landed on Klaus, he couldn’t hold the gaze and turned away. Klaus half expected dad to call him out on this, calling the behavior “disrespectful” or “cowardly”. However ol’ Reggie must have been in a good enough mood not to want to berate his son because he then cleared his throat and announced, “Sit down.” 

In unison, the seven of them pulled out their chairs and lowered into their seats. Klaus and Diego shared a long look with each other before turning their focus onto the food in front of them. 

As usual mom’s food was amazing. This morning it was an omelette with a side of bacon and hash browns, something Klaus was more than eager to dig into. 

Mom must have turned on the record player because the sound of one of dad’s dull exploration guides began to fill the room. God Klaus hated those things. He swore dad picked the ones with the most grating and unpleasant narration just to get on his kids’ nerves. 

Occasionally Klaus would glance up from his eating to look at dad. It was so surreal seeing him alive again after he’d died. A small smirk played on Klaus’ lips at the memory of sticking his cigarette into the man’s wet ashes.

Klaus looked around the table at his siblings. Diego was clearly having a hard time keeping his mouth shut in dad’s presence, throwing a dirty look his way every once in awhile. Luther also seemed to be struggling to hold his tongue, likely wanting to demand an explanation for something dad had yet to do. Five and Allison were holding it together the best of all of them, although even Allison would let slip the occasional scowl. When Klaus looked at Ben their eyes met, and Klaus could tell that Ben wanted nothing more than jump out of his seat and scream at dad for everything he’d put them all through. And Vanya, she just looked small and afraid, not at all different from how she’d often looked growing up. 

It was cruel really. They all finally had the chance and the will to confront their father, and they weren’t even allowed to do it. It was some kind of twisted injustice of the universe.

After twenty minutes, breakfast was done, regardless of whether everyone was finished or not because now...now it was training time.


	8. Training

Numbers one through six all stood in a line in the foyer, in numbered order of course. Dad stood in front of them with the large staircase behind him. Vanya was next to him, gripping a clipboard in her hands with white knuckles.

As per usual, they were starting off training with a warmup, and as had always been the case, Vanya would be leading them in their exercises while dad watched on critically. 

They’d all been sent to their rooms after breakfast to change into their matching green work-out clothes. Why they were never allowed to just change into that straight away in the morning, Klaus never knew, though he imagined it had to do with dad’s obsession with propriety and whatnot.

“Begin, Number Seven.” Dad instructed Vanya. Klaus noticed the way she flinched when he spoke to her. She looked pale, and like she wanted to be literally anywhere else. 

Klaus swallowed hard. Needless to say he hadn’t exactly been upkeeping his physical fitness. There was really no point in it when any health he managed to build for himself through exercise or good eating would just be countered by the drugs. Plus he was just way too lazy for it anymore. And so the only exercise he ever got were those occasions when he had to run for his life, which seemed to be increasing in frequency lately. 

Vanya cleared her throat, though it came out more like a nervous cough. “The--uh--the first exercise is forty jumping-jacks.” She stammered. 

Klaus groaned internally. He really did not miss this. Reluctantly he followed his siblings’ lead and began doing the jumping jacks, feeling totally stupid while doing so. 

Despite Luther and Diego not seeming to be actively competing with each other for once, they did nearly tie for being the first ones done. While the thought of stopping early and pretending he’d done all forty had crossed Klaus’ mind, he knew from past experience that the old man would notice and call him out on it. He, Ben, and Five all ended up getting done around the same time, with Allison having finished a little bit before. 

Surprisingly, Klaus didn’t feel nearly as out of shape as he had expected. Then he remembered that he was living in his body from seventeen years ago, a body that was far fitter in comparison. 

After completing several more warm-up exercises, they were sent to the courtyard to run laps back and forth for an hour. They were allowed a brief water break before being sent back to the foyer for combat training. 

Being more of an intellectual than a fighter, Reginald Hargreeves had hired a trained combat professional to teach his nine year old kids how to fight. They’d had lessons with him until they were twelve, when dad deemed them to know enough to be able to practice without constant instruction. 

Klaus had never been good at fighting. He didn’t know if he just wasn’t as tough or as naturally skilled as his siblings or what, but he never could compare to his brothers and sister. 

Today they were supposed to be sparing with a partner, and just like they’d always done as kids, Klaus paired off with Ben. The others had stuck to their usual pairs as well, Luther with Diego and Allison with Five. This was the only instance in which Luther wouldn’t choose Allison as a partner for something. Klaus figured it had to do with him not having it in himself to fight Allison, even if just for training. 

“You have three minutes to defeat your opponent.” Dad informed them. “Number seven, begin the timer.” Vanya lifted up the stopwatch that hung around her neck and clicked the button on the side. 

Klaus and Ben stared at each other nervously. Neither of them had really been in a hand to hand fight in so long, unless you counted that one time Klaus had gotten in a fight at that veteran’s bar, but he’d had Diego to back him up then. 

Glancing at his siblings, Klaus could see Luther and Diego were already engaged in their fight unsurprisingly. Allison and Five had hesitated as well but Five seemed to be getting over the weirdness of the situation and was lunging forward at Allison just like old times. 

“Number Four, Number Six, you will begin immediately!” Dad ordered impatiently. 

Despite dad’s demand, Klaus couldn’t seem to get himself to move. Ben on the other hand must not have been having the same problem, as he had begun advancing towards Klaus with his fists raised. 

Klaus sighed and lifted his own fists. Ben made the first move, a punch throw at Klaus’ face that he only barely was able to dodge. Klaus raised his arms up to protect his face from another similar attack, but Ben must have predicted that because he then went in for a punch into Klaus’ gut. 

Wheezing and stumbling backwards, Klaus glared daggers at his brother. He was starting to regret choosing Ben as a partner after they’d just had an argument. 

Ben leaped forward, quickly covering the space Klaus had put between them. He grabbed Klaus’ still lifted arms and used one of his legs to sweep Klaus’ feet out from under him. With a gasp Klaus tumbled to the ground, landing painfully on his back. “I miss when you were incorporeal.” Klaus groaned, throwing a dirty look up at Ben who wore an only slightly remorseful look on his face. 

“Well done Number Six.” Dad was the only person Klaus knew who could give praise while still sounding completely disinterested.

Klaus looked over to see Five had gotten the better of Allison, which wasn’t all that surprising considering he’d had spent all that extra time as an assassin with the Commission. Luther and Diego were still going at it, which wasn’t a huge shocker. Even if they weren’t being as competitive as usual, there was no way either of them would let the other beat them.

Finally Vanya’s stopwatch started beeping, signalling their three minutes were up. “That’s enough.” Dad announced. Diego and Luther stepped away from each other and turned to look at dad, who wore a disapproving look on his face. “I expect to see one of you succeed next time.” He warned before taking the clipboard and stopwatch from Vanya and marching up the stairs.

“Lunch time!” Mom could be heard calling from the kitchen downstairs as she rang her bell. 

Ben offered Klaus a hand to help him up, which Klaus stubbornly ignored. “I don’t know about you guys, but I could not be happier to be back.” He drawled sarcastically as he stood up and brushed himself off. “Yay time travel, am I right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr if anyone's interested: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


	9. Lunch Time

Lunch had always been a less formal affair than breakfast and dinner. Dad would usually eat in his office, meaning the kids could actually enjoy the meal without their father’s cold gaze boring holes into them. 

The kitchen table was more crowded than it had been the last time Klaus had been in the kitchen, you know before the whole traveling back in time thing. After Five’s disappearance and Ben’s death, dad had removed two of the chairs. At first Klaus had thought it was to remove the painful memory of their missing family members, but dad leaving their places at the dining table to forever remain glaringly empty seemed to discount that idea. 

As long as dad wasn’t present they were allowed to sit wherever they wanted at the kitchen table. Allison and Vanya had already sat down next to one another, with Luther sitting across from Allison. Ben plopped down in the chair next to Luther.

Klaus made a big point of ignoring the open chair beside Ben, instead sitting to the right of Vanya. When Ben rolled his eyes, Klaus petulantly stuck his tongue out. 

Diego and Five took the two seats at the ends of the table as mom placed down the last of their lunch.

Unlike formal family meals where they all had their own plates prepared for them, lunch was much more like a buffet. A plate stacked high with various kinds of sandwiches sat in the middle of the table. There was also a bowl of mixed vegetables, a tray of sliced fruit, and a pitcher of cold milk. 

“Dig in, children.” Mom announced sweetly, to which they all quickly obliged. 

It was a scramble for the food, everyone reaching over each other to grab what they wanted, just like old times. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing training again.” Allison sighed as she filled up her glass with milk. 

Klaus’ eyes darted towards mom, but she seemed too preoccupied with washing up the dishes from breakfast to notice their conversation. Klaus wasn’t even sure how she would react if they told her about was really going on. He had a feeling the whole situation might be a little too complex for her programming to fully comprehend. 

“I can’t get over seeing dad alive again.” Luther responded quietly. It was still weird to see Luther talk about dad without that old glint of loyalty in his eye that he used to always have. Ever since the whole moon thing had come to light he’d become disillusioned with the father he used to follow blindly. Not even the precious Number One had managed to escape dad’s influence without emotional scarring. 

“How are you holding up, Vanya?” Five asked with an uncharacteristic gentleness to his voice. 

Klaus glanced to his left to see Vanya mindlessly pushing the fruit on her plate around with a fork. She looked up at Five and shook her head. “It all still feels like some kind of surreal dream.” She admitted softly. 

“And you haven’t been struggling with your powers at all?” Five questioned in a whisper. 

Vanya looked uncomfortable with that question, her face instantly turning a shade paler. Her eyes dropped back down to her plate, as though she was ashamed of something. After a moment of silence she simply shook her head. 

Allison laid a comforting hand on Vanya’s arm. “She told me last night that as long as she avoids any strong emotions she should be alright.” Allison explained. 

Luther opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but quickly snapped it shut when he saw the threatening look Allison shot his way. 

Vanya’s powers being tied to her emotions made sense to Klaus, it at least explained how his once soft-spoken and gentle sister could have been completely taken over by the strange unstable power that had been dormant within her. While in Vanya’s case it seemed to increase the unpredictability of her powers, Klaus couldn’t help but think how nice it would be if his powers only worked when he was feeling strong emotions. The truth was, Klaus’ ability had no off-switch besides the drugs and alcohol. 

“You know, everytime I hear that old bastard’s voice my hand itches to reach for a knife.” Diego stated darkly. 

Klaus chuckled, “Really? Mine itches to reach for some booze.” Klaus beamed at the scowl Ben gave him. 

“Five, do you have any idea how long we have to keep up this charade yet?” Luther asked before digging into his third sandwich. 

Five gave one of his typical “you’re-so-stupid” eyerolls. “Yeah, because I’ve definitely had the time necessary to figure something like that out.” He sneered sarcastically. 

“That has to be the grumpiest little boy I’ve ever seen!” Klaus exclaimed with a hand to his mouth in faux-shock.

Five glared daggers across the table. “Klaus, I swear to god--” 

“Now children, let’s not bicker.” Mom tutted as she approached the table toting a plate of chocolate chip cookies. 

As soon as the plate was set down on the table Luther began to grab several from the pile. “Luther, one at a time, you have to share with your siblings.” Mom warned gently. 

Luther’s face tinged red, probably embarrassed by the fact that he was a grown man being told off by his mommy for taking too many cookies. Klaus giggled, cheerfully snatching a cookie of his own off the plate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


	10. Lessons

Following lunch was individual training, meaning each of the six would spend a half hour with dad working on their specific power. This was the aspect of training Klaus had been most dreading. Being around the old man with all his other siblings in the room with him was one thing, but being alone with him was a whole new level of awful. 

Of course Luther was first to go. He sent them all a nervous look before heading up the stairs to dad’s office. The rest of them made their way into the parlor where they’d be going through their normal school lessons with Pogo. 

One of those transportable blackboards on wheels had been pulled up beside the main sitting area where the six of them had already settled down. Pogo entered the room, looking a fair bit younger than the last Klaus had seen him. Oh and also the fact that he wasn’t dead anymore. “Good afternoon.” He greeted, already setting to work on scrawling out some mathematical equations on the board with chalk. 

Klaus didn’t bother suppressing the groan that burst out of him, it wasn’t like it was out of character for his thirteen year old self anyway. Klaus had always hated math. 

“I understand you may not find this the most invigorating aspect of your day, Master Klaus,” Pogo said without turning away from the chalkboard, “however it is quite vital to your education.” 

Klaus held himself back from telling Pogo that the only thing he’d used math for after leaving the Academy had been for calculating the prices of the drugs he was buying. 

“This is so beneath me.” Five muttered from where he sat beside Klaus on the couch. 

“Remember whose idea it was to relive our youth.” Klaus replied under his breath, earning him a dirty look from his brother. 

“Alright everyone, your attention please.” Pogo announced, now wielding a pointer stick in his hand. 

The lesson droned on for an hour, during which Klaus just spaced off most of the time. Once Pogo had asked Klaus to solve an equation on the board, but after Klaus had gone up and scribbled down a bunch of random numbers, he didn’t do so again. 

Halfway through, Luther had returned and Diego had been sent up. Klaus thought that of all of them, Diego was probably the most likely to give away their little secret, what with his incredibly short temper and burning hatred for dad. Not that they didn’t all hate dad in their own way, but Diego had never been able to stuff it down like the rest of them. 

When Diego came back from his training with dad and looked more ticked off than panicked, Klaus assumed he must have pulled it off. 

The next lesson Pogo started giving was on science, specifically biology. While it was slightly more interesting to Klaus than math, he still didn’t find himself particularly enthralled with Pogo’s dull description of plant cell reproduction. 

However, when Allison returned and it came time for his own individual training, Klaus found himself much preferring to stay and listen to Pogo talk about mitosis. 

Klaus locked eyes with Ben, who had a matching nervous expression on his face. It was funny, even when they’d been fighting both physically and vocally all day, Klaus still automatically turned to Ben for support. It’d been that way even before Ben had died, and having him constantly around as a ghost had only made the inclination stronger. 

Klaus swallowed hard as he stood up and slowly made his way out of the parlor. A horrible pit was forming in his stomach and every instinct in him was urging him to run out the front door and away from this damn house. 

One-on-one training with dad had always been just miserable for Klaus. For one, Klaus despised using his powers. Unlike Luther, Diego, Allison, or Five, there was nothing fun about chatting with corpses. The only dead person Klaus ever had any desire to talk to was Ben, and he wasn’t dead anymore. And then there was the fact that no one else could see Klaus’ powers in action, at least not until he’d summoned Ben back in the Icarus Theater, but that wasn’t happening again anytime soon. Dad being unable to actually see what Klaus was seeing made their training sessions that much more grueling. 

No amount of dragging his feet or stalling could prevent Klaus from eventually reaching dad’s office. The sliding door was slightly ajar already and dad could be seen inside, sitting at his desk scribbling in some journal. 

Klaus took a deep breath in a failed attempt at calming his nerves. He was starting to wish he’d had a hit before going, but it was too late now because dad had just looked up from his writing to see Klaus loitering outside the door. 

“Well, come in Number Four.” He commanded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking forever to actually get to the Klaus/Vanya bonding, I know. There's just so much I want to write about!
> 
> My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


	11. One-on-One

Slowly Klaus entered the office of his adopted father. Not long ago he had been picking it clean of valuables to pawn for drug money, but now that dad was back, it had returned to being like some kind of dungeon guarded by a dragon. 

“Close the door.” Dad instructed, peering at his son icily through the monocle on his face. 

Silently Klaus did as he had been told. When he was finished he turned back around to face dad, his shaking hands held out of sight behind his back.   
“Today I have chosen someone specific for you to conjure.” Dad began, rising out of his chair and walking around to the front of his desk. “Once you have summoned them, I will ask some questions that you would not know the answer to.” He went on. “Therefore you will be unable to lie to me as you attempted to do last time.” Klaus felt an involuntary shiver run across his skin. He couldn’t specifically remember the instance dad was referring to, but he did know that he’d said he had conjured ghosts when he actually hadn’t many times growing up. Sometimes it had been because he’d been too drunk or high, other times it had been because he was just too afraid to actually do it. 

Dad grabbed a photo off his desk and held it up for Klaus to see. The picture was of a well dressed elderly man. “His name is Winston Redford.” Dad stated before setting the photo back on his desk. 

Klaus swallowed hard. He still hadn’t been able to intentionally conjure someone in years. Even when he’d conjured dad at the rave it’d been entirely on accident. And while Klaus was technically sober at the moment, he had smoked two joints just last night. “Dad, I’m not sure--” Klaus started but was swiftly cut off.

“No excuses, Number Four.” Dad interrupted sharply.

There was no getting out of it. Klaus had to try at the very least. He took in a low steadying breath and closed his eyes, trying to focus all his thoughts on this Wiston Redford guy. 

“Come on Winston, come oooon.” Klaus urged mentally. 

Klaus had no idea why it was so easy to have random ghosts constantly harassing him, but he always struggled with conjuring ones he actually wanted to see. Even when he had wanted nothing more than to see Dave again, he hadn’t been able to do it. So why would it work for this guy he didn’t even know? 

They stood there in silence for ten minutes before dad got impatient. “You disappoint me once again, Number Four.” He stated coldly, returning to his desk to scrawl out some notes in his journal. 

“I--I don’t know why it’s not working.” Klaus said quietly. And he honestly didn’t. He knew it never worked when he was under the influence, but even when he’d been completely sober for over a day, he still hadn’t really been able to control his power. Summoning Ben in that theater hadn’t been something he’d meant to do. When he had actually tried to make Ben corporeal at the bowling alley he’d failed. Klaus just couldn’t understand why most of his other siblings seemed to have such a better handle on their powers. 

Dad didn’t look up from his writing. “You’re not properly applying yourself.” He responded simply. “You allow yourself to become distracted and therefore unfocused.” 

Klaus wanted to shout back at him about everything he’d done to try to talk to Dave. He had gotten clean, focused as hard as he possibly could, he’d removed all distractions and still it hadn’t worked. How could dad know anything about his powers anyway? It wasn’t like the man had any powers of his own. He was probably just speculating, something that may have worked on the others but not Klaus. 

“Were I not needed on business out of town this evening, I would have you undergoing more extra training tonight.” Dad added emotionlessly, as though he didn’t know how much his son feared the “extra training”.

Klaus could have sworn his blood had turned to ice. He had spent the better part of seventeen years trying to scrub the memories of that mausoleum from his mind. No matter how high or drunk he got, he would always remember it as soon as he got sober enough. The prospect of going back there was an absolute nightmare. Being on the battlefields in Vietnam had been bad enough, but he’d had Dave there. In the mausoleum, he was completely alone with the dead. 

“If you are unable to use your powers you are dismissed.” Dad said, still not looking up from his journal. Klaus didn’t need to be told twice. He quickly hurried out of the room, closing the office door behind him less than gently as a tiny act of rebellion against Sir Reginald Hargreeves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


	12. Bonding

After lessons all seven of them were required to complete a set of chores while mom prepared dinner. They were assigned a specific task and partnered with a sibling, depending on what it was. 

Klaus was given the job of sorting laundry alongside Vanya. As the two of them made their way to the laundry room, Klaus found himself unsure of what to say to his sister. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, but he had no idea how to phrase them, or whether Vanya would even actually want to hear them. 

Once they reached the laundry room, a large basket filled with freshly washed Academy uniforms and pajamas was already waiting for them. Two short stools sat on either side of it, and seven smaller baskets with their designated number on them all stood in a row in front of the washing machine and dyer. 

Silently, Klaus and Vanya took their seats on the stools and began grabbing articles of clothing out of the basket for sorting. 

Klaus looked at the tag on the pair of shorts he held. The presence of a small number 2 on the tag told him that they belonged to Diego so he tossed them into the corresponding basket before moving onto the next item. 

“Vanya, I wanted to tell you that I’m...that I’m sorry about what happened to you.” Klaus began somewhat awkwardly. Vanya was probably the sibling that Klaus knew the least. His loud and over-the-top personality had never seemed compatible with Vanya’s much more quiet and reserved demeanor. And of course there was the fact that dad had excluded Vanya from just about everything Umbrella Academy related. 

Tentatively Klaus looked over at Vanya to gauge her reaction. There was a sad and conflicted look on her face, as though she didn’t exactly know how she felt about Klaus’ apology. After a long pause she spoke. “You’re not to blame.” She said softly.

Klaus shook his head. “I should have tried harder to get Luther to let you out of that--that vault.” He told her, stumbling slightly over his words. “I was really confused, and Luther’s always been our Number One--”

“I saw you trying to convince Luther to let me go.” Vanya interjected. “And besides, maybe he was right to have kept me locked up.” She added, eyes cast down to her hands.

Klaus’ eyes went wide. He couldn’t believe she would say that. Being locked up alone like that was torture, Klaus of all people knew that. Vanya may have hurt Allison, but Klaus had to believe she hadn’t meant to do it. She’d just discovered her whole life had been a lie and that she had this uncontrollable power within her. What she had needed was help, not for her family to toss her into some prison. 

“How can you say that?” Klaus asked, green eyes staring Vanya down. 

Vanya finally looked up to meet her brother’s gaze. “I almost caused the apocalypse, Klaus.” She hissed in a shaky whisper. 

Klaus could see now the heavy guilt that hung over Vanya. Of course nearly causing the end of everything was no small thing, but she was a product of her past, just like they all were. 

“Vanya, if dad had been up front with you about your powers, if he hadn’t treated you like an outsider all the time, things would’ve been different.” He insisted. “If anyone is responsible for the apocalypse, it’s dad, if he hadn’t been such a colossal asshole, none of it ever would have happened.” Vanya had looked away from Klaus again but he continued on anyways. “That’s why we’re sitting here sorting laundry like we’re kids again, because we have to make things right.” 

The next time Vanya looked up her eyes were slightly damp. She looked at Klaus and there was a small ghost of a smile on her face. “Thank you, Klaus.” She murmured. 

Klaus returned the favor with a cheesy grin of his own, eliciting a soft giggle from his sister. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard Vanya genuinely laugh. It was a nice sound, and Klaus fully intended to keep doing whatever it took to keep her laughing throughout whatever was to come. 

“Imagine how cool your power will be once you get a handle on it though.” Klaus commented as they both set back to work sorting the laundry. “It’s gotta be better than the shit I’ve got.” He added with an exaggerated shudder. 

Tossing a pair of socks into basket 5, Klaus went to grab a pair of pajama bottoms from the laundry when he caught Vanya staring at him intensely. “Uh did you wanna sort these pants or…” He trailed off, fidgeting uncomfortably under Vanya’s serious gaze. 

“You act like you hate them.” She stated, probably talking about his powers and not the blue pants he had gripped in his hand. 

Klaus chuckled dismissively. “Well, the dead aren’t always the best company.” He replied with a cheerful shrug. 

“Allison told me you conjured Ben.” Vanya pressed, apparently not buying Klaus’ attempt at nonchalance.

“Oh yeah, well I don’t mean him of course.” Klaus responded. “Although, and don’t tell our brother dearest this, but he could be a bit of prick at times.” He added in a stage whisper. 

 

Vanya set the jacket she’d been holding on her lap and put her entire focus on Klaus, much to his discomfort. “Klaus, do you see ghosts you haven’t conjured?” She questioned.

Immediately Klaus’ instinct was to deny it. Afterall, he had been keeping the terrible side effects of his powers from his family for years. The only reason Ben knew was because it was near impossible to hide anything from your ever present ghost brother. Anytime his living siblings had caught him yelling at the air or flinching away from nothing, they’d blamed it on the drugs, and he had let them. Klaus just wasn’t the type to put his own issues on other people if he could avoid it. But he didn’t want to lie to Vanya, and just maybe it would help her to know that she wasn’t to only one struggling with her powers. 

With a deep breath and a humorless grin, Klaus nodded his confirmation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


	13. Confession

“Why did you never tell any of us?” Vanya demanded, surprising Klaus with her intensity. 

Klaus gave a casual shrug that didn’t match the mood of the room in the slightest. “Wasn’t much of a point.” He told her simply.

Vanya’s eyebrows narrowed as she shook her head. “Of course there’s a point, we could have helped you.” She insisted. There was a pause as a solemnity came over and then, “Did dad know?”

A low chuckle came out of Klaus. Not only had pops known about the side effects of his son’s powers, but he had actively put him in situations that made it worse. Dad had always treated it like it was Klaus’ problem, like it was his fault that the dead seemed to flock to him regardless of whether or not he wanted them around. “What did you think all the extra training was about?” Klaus responded.

A look of confusion crossed Vanya’s face. “What--what do you mean?” She asked, a note of uneasiness in her voice, as though she already knew the answer was going to be unpleasant. 

Klaus took in a deep breath. This coming clean about his traumatic history thing was even tougher than he thought. He had kept the mausoleum a secret from everyone but Ben all these years. He hated talking about it, hell he hated thinking about it. If his mind went back there and got stuck...well it was never pretty. Ben had always been good about pulling Klaus back from the edge, but he wasn’t here now. 

“Klaus?” Vanya coaxed when her brother hesitated. 

Klaus sighed. If he was going to bear his soul to someone it might as well be Vanya. He at least knew she would listen without any judgement. “I was...afraid of the ghosts.” Klaus began quietly. “When I told dad about it he said he would give me ‘extra training’ to help me get over my fear.” He put air quotes around the words “extra training”. 

Vanya nodded to indicate that she was following along so far. “He always told us you needed extra time to master your powers.” 

The unwanted memories were already coming flooding back, the horrific images flashing in his mind’s eyes. Klaus’ eyes were glazed as he continued on. “He took me to the graveyard on the street behind the house.” The words were pouring out now. “There’s a mausoleum there...he thought making me face my fears would help me conquer them.” His gaze was distant, like he was no longer in the same place anymore. “The dead screamed at me for hours, and hours, and hours, and--” 

The sudden feeling of a hand on his arm jerked Klaus out his daze. At first he pulled away from the touch, forgetting where he was and who he was with. But when Vanya’s warm brown eyes met his, he stopped struggling and some of the tension released from his body. 

Vanya held Klaus’ gaze without turning away. There was a kind of mix of grief and guilt in her eyes that Klaus had never seen expressed by his little sister before. “Klaus, I had no idea.” She murmured softly. 

Coming back to himself, Klaus let a pitiful excuse for a reassuring smile tug at his lips. “Hey, they don’t call it a secret for nothing.” He replied, his eyes darting away from Vanya’s, no longer able to handle the prolonged vulnerability their shared gaze caused. 

“Do...do the drugs help you forget?” Vanya asked cautiously. 

Klaus reached for another article of clothing from the laundry basket, eager for some kind of manual distraction. “Maybe temporarily, but they’re better for blocking stuff out.” He admitted vaguely. 

Klaus was sure his siblings had just assumed he spent all of his time getting drunk or high because he couldn’t handle the pressures of reality. Luther had always looked at Klaus like he thought he was weak, even when they were teenagers. Diego had been the best brother to Klaus apart from Ben, however he seemed to treat Klaus like something that needed to be looked after. Allison, well Klaus had assumed she didn’t want her fame tarnished by her junkie brother. Of course Five hadn’t been around long since his disappearance, but even he seemed to view his addict of a brother as a lost cause. 

And while his family had never directly expressed their beliefs to him, Klaus had been content in allowing them to think whatever it was they wanted. Until very recently, he’d planned on just about never seeing his siblings again, that seemed to be what they all wanted anyways. And besides, unprompted confessions had always seemed like pathetic cries for attention to Klaus, not that his family didn’t already seem to think he was desperate for attention anyways. 

“They numb your powers.” Vanya breathed, realization hitting her. “It all makes sense now.” She sat back in her seat again.

Klaus smiled bitterly, “You had your pills, and I had mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


	14. Changes

The rest of the time spent sorting the laundry remained mostly in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, in fact is was strangely pleasant. Klaus had never been great in quiet environments, always preferring to fill them with music or his own voice. However, as he sat there with Vanya across from him, sorting laundry with the thrumming of the washing machine in the background, Klaus felt somehow at peace. 

Klaus threw the last of the laundry, a pair of long black socks, into Allison’s basket. “I think we should pursue professional laundry sorting, because this is just--” Klaus performed a chef’s kiss, loudly over exaggerating the _mwah_ sound as he gestured at the completed sorting. 

Vanya gave a light laugh. “I think you’d make a nice launderer.” She said as the two of them made their way out of the laundry room. 

“Oh I know I would.” Klaus quipped back.

With ten minutes left until dinner time, Klaus and Vanya made their way upstairs to the kids’ area of the house. The rest of their siblings must have already finished their chores since they had all gathered in Luther’s room again, only with the door open this time. 

Allison immediately gave Vanya a questioning look as soon as she stepped into the room, as though she wanted to know whether or not Klaus had tormented her during their chores. Allison really didn’t have a lot of faith in him, huh? 

Vanya gave Allison a reassuring nod, and as soon as Vanya had looked away, Klaus made sure to throw a smug look his big sister’s way. 

“Sooo, what’s the gossip?” Klaus drawled as he plopped down on Luther’s bed next to Diego, who made several outraged sounds when he splayed his legs out across his brother’s lap. 

“Get your scrawny legs off me.” Diego grumbled, only half-heartedly shoving at Klaus’ intruding limbs. 

“We were talking about whether dad seemed suspicious to any of you.” Luther interrupted.

Klaus glanced over had Five. He was standing in the corner of the room furiously scribbling on a notepad he had clutched tightly in hand. He clearly wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation. 

Allison shook her head. “He wasn’t suspicious, but he made me rumor a rat.” She said with distaste. Evidently Allison still wasn’t up to using her powers. However the fact that dad had made her use her powers to mind control a rat was kind of laughable, considering Klaus was being asked to summon up dead people for a chit-chat during _his_ training. 

“What’d you expect, the old man is obsessed with developing our powers to use to his advantage.” Diego stated bitterly.

Growing up, Klaus had often fantasized about he and all his siblings rising up against their abusive father and leaving the Academy forever. He’d imagined they would run away to a new city completely. Obviously Luther and Diego would get jobs in a circus as a strongman and knife-thrower respectively, and with their circus money they’d buy their own house and eat donuts whenever they wanted. And on the off chance that Luther and Diego’s lives as carnies didn’t work out, Allison could always rumor people to get free stuff. They would all be happy together, and Klaus would never have to use his powers again. 

Of course that was all just a dream. None of them were ever brave enough to seriously stand up to dad until they were older, and by that time they had all drifted apart so much they all just wanted to go their separate ways.

The distinct sound of mom ringing the dinner bell could be heard from downstairs. Everyone shared a look of dread. “Come on.” Diego grunted, finally forcing Klaus’ legs off of him to get up and lead the group out of the room. 

While dad had spoke of business he had to attend to earlier, Klaus knew he wouldn’t be leaving until after dinner. After all this was the night Five disappeared, and he could still remember how pissed he’d felt when dad had insisted on still leaving town despite the fact that his son had essentially run away from home. 

“Hey Five, try not to disappear into the future this time.” Klaus called as they made their way down the hallway. 

“Shut up, Klaus.” Five shot back, cranky as ever. 

The seven of them filed down the staircase and into the dining room. One of dad’s droning mountaineering records was already playing as they all took position behind their seats at the table. 

A moment later, dad came marching into the room. “Sit.” He announced. The sound of eight chairs being pulled back on the hard floors briefly blocked out the absolutely mind numbing explanation of rope usage by “Herr Carlson”, only to resume once again when they’d all taken their seats. 

This being the last time Klaus had seen Five before disappearing for seventeen years, he had small details about this evening committed to memory. He remembered last time Ben had been reading a book at the table, as he usually had. However this time Ben must have been too distracted with everything going on to do so. Diego had been carving into the arm of his chair with a knife, which he was doing this time around as well, though maybe a bit more aggressively this time. Klaus could remember actually rolling himself a blunt at the dinner table, something he unfortunately couldn’t do this time considering he’d used up all his pot last night. 

A glance over at Five proved him to look equally as agitated as he had the last time they’d done this, only this time Klaus knew it was for an entirely different reason. While Klaus assumed over forty years in an apocalyptic wasteland was incentive enough not to try the same stunt twice, Klaus still felt like his brother would jump out of his seat any minute and go running out the door again. 

Twenty minutes later, dinner was concluded and Five was still with them. As the seven of them all headed upstairs, Klaus realized they had just made their first step towards changing the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone leaving nice comments! I wish I could update everyday but with classes started back up it's kinda hard. Either way, thank you all for reading!
> 
> My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


	15. Meeting

Fun and games were limited to a half hour on Saturday afternoons, which in dear old dad’s eyes meant anything that didn’t having to do with training. Getting caught doing something he deemed “frivolous” outside that window of time was highly frowned upon. 

However, with Reggie going out of town for the night, Klaus and his siblings could actually go about their business without worrying about their drag of a dad intervening. Pogo and Grace wouldn’t stand in their way, not without direct orders from dad. 

This time there would be no fun and games though. As soon as they’d gotten out of dad’s earshot Luther had whispered to all of the to meet in the attic of all places as soon as dad left for his business. 

The seven of them were now all spread out across the cluttered old attic. Klaus had plopped down in a short wicker chair, his legs hanging over the arm. He was fiddling with busted gold pocket watch he’d found in a box next to the chair. He could remember picking the attic clean of any valuables to sell after dad had died, you know, in the future, or was it the past? Klaus couldn’t handle thinking about this time travel junk for long with getting an acute migraine. 

“Alright so we made it through our first day.” Luther began. He was standing in the middle of the room with his shoulders back like he was trying to look important and like he knew what he was talking about. 

“Yaaay.” Klaus cheered with a fist in the air, earning him a glare from Luther, to which Klaus responded by grinning back at him. 

Allison rolled her eyes. She was sitting on the windowsill at the back of the room, the sounds of the street below pouring in from behind her. “Can we get to the part where we figure out when we get to go back?” She asked impatiently. Klaus had a feeling she had her daughter on her mind.

Everyone’s eyes darted to where Five sat on an old bench half covered in boxes. He had his notepad out again and had been intensely scrutinizing it when the attention of the room fell on him. However he didn’t seem to notice until Diego loudly snapped his fingers, “Hey, Five.”

Five looked up from the notepad to see everyone watching him. “What?” He demanded tersely.

“I think everyone’s just wondering if you’ve made any progress.” Luther replied, surprisingly diplomatic considering he generally preferred the my-way-or-the-highway method of leadership. 

Shocking no one, Five rolled his eyes. “None of you seem to comprehend how much thought has to be put into every miniscule detail when determining timeline maintenance.” He hissed in a condescending manner. 

“No need to get your little boy briefs in a bunch, bro.” Klaus drawled without looking up from the pocket watch he was now trying to crack open.

Ben, who was sitting precariously on an old cabinet, chuckled. 

Klaus could feel Five’s beady little eyes glaring at him without having to look up. The guy could stand to loosen up a bit in Klaus’ humble opinion. Sure Five was being tasked with trying to prevent the apocalypse, but that was no excuse for rudeness. 

“Ignore him, just tell us if you’ve found anything out.” Luther sighed.  
“Fine.” Five griped. “I know for sure now that dad finding out we’re from the future would completely destroy the timeline.” He explained.

Diego was leaning against a beam of the unfinished wall, fidgeting with one of his little throwing knives. “Great, so we get to keep reliving the shittiest years of my life.” He grumbled. 

“Now Diego, you’re neglecting all the other shitty periods of your life.” Klaus quipped, causing Diego to smirk back at him. 

Ignoring Klaus and Diego’s comments, Five continued on. “And obviously we have no chance of preventing the apocalypse unless Vanya can control her powers.” 

Klaus turned to look at Vanya. She was sitting in a small wooden chair in the corner of the room. Her eyes got wide as soon as Five mentioned her and Klaus noticed her begin to shift uncomfortably in her seat. 

“No one’s tried to make you take your pills?” Five questioned. 

Vanya shook her head. “I was taking them on my own when I was thirteen.” 

Klaus felt a pang of guilt come over him. He couldn’t believe his sister had essentially been being drugged their whole childhood and he never noticed or thought to question it. They really had all failed her. 

“How are we going to train her when we don’t know anything about how her powers?” Diego asked with a raised brow. 

“We know they’re controlled by emotions and that sound plays a part.” Five pointed out, setting his notepad aside and getting to his feet. 

Klaus could see Vanya was feeling nervous as she watched Five grab an emptied vodka bottle--something Klaus was sure his thirteen your old self must have been responsible for emptying--and setting in on a table he pulled to the middle of the room. 

Luther walked over to the window to sit next to Allison, a not so subtle way of saying he still didn’t trust Vanya or her powers in the slightest.

“Ok Vanya, do you think you could break this bottle?” Five asked in a far more gentle tone than he’d ever directed at Klaus.

Vanya still hadn’t gotten out of her seat and looked highly uncomfortable with the situation. A reluctance to use one’s power wasn’t foreign to Klaus in the least. He was just lucky enough that his weren’t of a destructive nature, at least not to anybody but himself. 

“I--I don’t know…” Vanya trailed off, fidgeting under everyone’s attention. 

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Allison insisted, to which Five responded by throwing a sharp look her way. 

“The prevention of the end of everything is reliant on Vanya being able to control her powers.” He explained through clenched teeth. “The sooner we start training, the sooner we can get out of here.” While Klaus knew Five was right, he still felt it was unfair for Vanya to be put in such a tough position when she was so...fragile right now. Klaus couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have the fate of the world basically resting on your shoulders. The world would certainly be screwed if it were. 

Slowly rising out of her chair Vanya attempted a confident nod. “I can try.” She said as she cautiously approached the glass bottle. “Everyone...just stay back.” She warned. 

Five stepped back towards the wall and Klaus caught Luther putting a protective hand on Allison’s arm. 

They all stared at Vanya as she shut her eyes and an intense look of focus came over her face. There were several long moments of silence before the sound of shattering glass erupted into the air, followed by the sound of splintering wood. 

Klaus swung his legs down off the arm of the chair to lean in closer. Beneath where the vodka bottle had just been resting, the wood of the table had cracked in several places. Apparently there had been a little bit of collateral damage. 

While Klaus, Ben, Diego, and Allison all looked impressed, Vanya seemed less excited. Luther too looked concerned unsurprisingly, and Five’s face was unreadable. “I didn’t mean--” Vanya began but Five waved his hand dismissively.

“Not bad, just need to work on eliminating collateral damage entirely.” He commented, hurrying back over to his notepad to scrawl down some notes.

“No fair, I wanna be able to shatter stuff!” Klaus whined, arms folding over his chest in a pout.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


	16. Outburst

They all sat there in that attic while Vanya practiced breaking various objects with her powers for another hour before Five finally relented to everyone’s insistence that it was time for break. 

Vanya had looked exhausted, it seemed using her powers even in small bursts took a physical toll on her body. Disregarding Luther’s hand wringing, Allison went alone with Vanya to get her something to eat to help regain some energy. 

Five teleported away. Klaus had no doubt he would be in his room pouring over that notepad for the rest of the night. 

Once Diego had dismissed himself to go take a shower and Luther had gone off to do whatever it was that he did in his freetime, that just left Klaus and Ben alone for the first time since the morning. 

Klaus could tell Ben was about to bring something annoying up the moment he opened his mouth. “We’re going to have to talk about it eventually.” He started, to which Klaus responded by immediately rolling his eyes and turning away from his brother. 

“See I don’t really think we do.” Klaus replied without turning back to Ben. 

Considering the amount of times Klaus and Ben had bickered about Klaus’ drug habits, Klaus was surprised his brother was still willing to bother. Most of his other siblings had given up on trying to get him sober a long time ago. It was an understandable response. Klaus had shown no desire or willingness to stop his drug use for so long that it just became a pointless endeavor, but Ben must not have seen it that way. 

“Klaus, I know it’s hard but--”

“Why can’t you just accept that I’ll never be able to stay sober?!” Klaus snapped, surprising even himself with the harsh tone of his words. Klaus had never been the angry type, which could perhaps be attributed partially to the drugs, but even as as kid he would rarely have the loud outbursts that he would often see from Diego or Allison. Which was why whenever Klaus _did_ become outwardly angry, it tended to come as a shock.

After recovering from the initial surprise from Klaus’ outburst, Ben folded his arms over his chest and glared back at his taller brother. “Because I know it’s not true.” He stated obstinately.

Klaus gave a dry bitter laugh. “Oh really, because I’m pretty sure every single attempt I’ve made has been a complete total failure.” 

The incentive of being able to conjure Dave was gone. Even if he did somehow remember Klaus in this new convoluted timeline, there was no way Klaus would let their reunion happen when he looked like a thirteen year old. As for the unlocked potential of Klaus’ powers? Well Five had insisted they do nothing to upset the timeline further, and besides, Ben wasn’t a ghost he could summon anymore anyways. 

“That doesn’t mean you won’t ever be able to do it.” Ben insisted in that irritatingly calm tone of his. 

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up.” Klaus told him in a low voice. 

Ben sighed and his arms uncrossed. “I won’t ask you to stop smoking pot.” He said with reluctance. “But please promise me you won’t go out and try to find something stronger.” There was intensity and desperation in Ben’s eyes. Klaus didn’t like making promises, he always seemed to end up breaking them eventually. 

Despite his reservations, Klaus gave a grudging nod of agreement. If nothing else it would put Ben at ease for the time being. 

With that confrontation out of the way, the two went their separate ways. Ben--probably to go read or something nerdy like that, and Klaus to take a nice long bath. 

Walking down the hall, Klaus passed Diego’s open door to see him sitting on the floor with wet hair while organizing his case of knives. That man (boy?) really did love those things. 

After grabbing his walkman and headphones out his room, Klaus headed to the bathroom. Being back in time, Vanya’s room was across the hall from the bathroom, unlike the future where her room had been demolished by dad and merged with Klaus’ after she had left the Academy. Were Vanya not in a sensitive state Klaus might have not cared much about potentially flashing his sister, but considering the circumstances he figured he should close the bathroom door for once. 

Klaus lost track of time as he lounged in the bathtub, music blaring through his headphones. He probably would have stayed in for another half hour were it not for the soft knock on the door. “Klaus dear?” Mom’s voice called through the door. 

Tugging off his headphones, Klaus shouted back, “Yeah?” 

“No need to rush, but bedtime is in twenty minutes.” Mom replied. She was well aware of Klaus’ habit of getting distracted in the bath and had often stopped by to keep him updated on the time. 

“Thank you!” Klaus called, already rising out of the warm suds.

Quickly, Klaus dried off and got changed into his pajamas. With his supply of marijuana depleted he would have to resort to alcohol to get him through the night, and he wanted to make sure he had time to properly sneak past Pogo and mom to raid the bar before bedtime. 

As he crept down the hall, Klaus heard mom’s voice coming from Diego’s room. He pressed himself against the wall beside the doorway to listen. “I’m feeling perfectly well, Diego dear.” Mom said sweetly. “Why do you ask?” 

A smile tugged at Klaus’ lips. He was glad his brother was getting the chance to spend time with mom again. He was also glad his brother was inadvertently keeping her occupied while he snuck around the house. 

Peeking around the doorframe, Klaus saw mom’s back was turned away from the doorway. Diego must have either been too distracted to notice Klaus dart past, or he _had_ noticed and just not cared. Either way Klaus successfully made it past, meaning all he had to worry about now was Pogo.

At night Pogo would usually be in his room, though he occasionally could have been seen wandering the halls. Whether his was to keep an eye out for disobedient children or just for leisure, Klaus had never known. He just hoped today the simian butler would stay out of Klaus’ path. 

Silently, Klaus slipped down the stairs and through the foyer. He stopped to listen for any noises coming from the parlor, when he heard nothing he continued his journey to the bar. 

Klaus had just pulled the glass stopper out of a decanter of bourbon when he heard the sound of softly approaching footsteps. Hurriedly Klaus shoved the stopper back into the bottle and pushed it aside before putting on his best ‘I’m perfectly innocent’ face. 

“Klaus?” A quiet voice asked. Klaus turned to see a pajamaed Vanya standing in the archway watching him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/umbrella--bitch


End file.
